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Dabhol:
MSEB and Maharashtra asked to pay up to GE and Bechtel
Mumbai: The International Arbitration Tribunal has asked the Maharashtra
State Electricity Board (MSEB) and the Maharashtra Government to pay $125
million to GE and Bechtel Corp as compensation for "appropriating the
assets" of Dabhol Power Corporation (DPC).
Bechtel
Corp and GE have controlling stakes in DPC, according to sources close to
the development.
Meanwhile,
it is learnt that IDBI may move the Bombay High Court
to seek a mandate on restarting the Dabhol power project
in the wake of the power crisis in the State.
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Rajya
Sabha: Govt. calls off strategic sale in PSUs
New Delhi:
The government
has informed the Rajya Sabha that the sale of controlling stakes in thirteen
public sector undertakings, which had been cleared by the previous NDA government,
has been called off.
"In
keeping with the National Common Minimum Programme guidelines, it has been
decided to call off the process of disinvestment through strategic sale, approved
earlier," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told the Upper
House in a written reply.
The
NDA government had identified thirteen profitable PSUs for strategic disinvestment,
including National Aluminium Company Limited, Shipping Corporation of India,
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, State Trading Corporation, Engineers
India Ltd and Balmer Lawrie Ltd.
Other
companies that were listed for disinvestment included National Fertilisers
Ltd, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd, Manganese Ore India Ltd, Sponge
Iron India Ltd, National Building Construction Ltd, Engineering Projects India
Ltd and Hindustan Paper Corporation.
The
Finance Ministry is currently in the process of finalising a report on residual
stake sale of at least five per cent equity in five PSUs. These include Hindustan
Zinc Limited, Engineers India Limited, BALCO and Shipping Corporation of India.
The
money generated through such a route will be parked in
a dedicated National Investment Fund. The fund has been
set up to revive sick PSUs and infuse capital to strengthen
the profit making PSUs.
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Kamal
Nath: Retail sector may be opened partially
New Delhi:
Commerce and
Industry Minister Kamal Nath has indicated that India plans to partially open
its $190 billion retail industry to foreigners. The retail market has been
growing as much as five per cent a year.
It
would be done in a way that encourages investment while protecting the jobs
of millions of small shopkeepers who dominate the trade, Kamal Nath said in
an interview to The Wall Street Journal.
Initially,
the access would be for grocery companies with priority for facilitating the
entrance of refrigerated distribution networks to ensure fruit and vegetables
are well preserved in transit to shops, he said.
Nath
said that as much as three quarters of the initial opening
for foreign investment could be in food and related establishments.
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ASSOCHAM:Pharma exports to touch
$6 bn by 2015
New Delhi: Industry chamber ASSOCHAM projects that Indian pharma exports
will grow to $6 billion by 2015, from the current level of less than $2 billion.
According
to a white paper, titled 'Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Prospects for Growth
by 2015' the chamber has cited reasons such as domestic pharma companies upgrading
their manufacturing facilities and adopting good manufacturing practices,
besides obtaining international regulatory approvals from institutions of
repute, including US Federal Administration, which will propel Indian drugs
export even to developed economies.
The
global pharmaceuticals market today is estimated at about
$357 billion against which India's share is calculated
in the region of $1.5 billion or so, it said.
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Bill
to set up Aquaculture Authority passed
New Delhi: Government has decided to set up a body along the lines
of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) towards all round development
of fisheries and aquaculture in the country.
Announcing this, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the body would be
set up this year itself to tap the marine potential that the vast coastline
provided in the country.
The
NDDB, set up in mid-sixties, had turned India from shortage to surplus in
milk production through White Revolution, he said.
"We
will have infrastructure system and institution by this year-end to bring
a marine revolution in the country", Pawar said winding up a discussion
on a bill to set up a Coastal Aquaculture Authority.
The
bill, which was passed by voice vote with two minor amendments,
aims at regulating activities of aquaculture in coastal
areas which provided opportunities for employment and
livelihood through alternative avocation other than agriculture.
He said the development of aquaculture in the last several
years has taken exports to Rs6,000 crore annually.
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Govt.
to build strategic oil storage tanks at Mangalore and Vizag
New Delhi: The Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar told the Upper
House of Parliament that the Government has identified two port cities in
order to build three tanks to store emergency crude oil stocks.
"The
Government has approved building of strategic crude oil reserves of 5 million
metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) at Mangalore (1.5 MMTPA), Visakhapatnam (1
MMTPA), and Mangalore or nearby location (2.5 MMTPA)," he said.
It
is estimated that the capital investment for building strategic storage reserves
at Mangalore (1.5 MMTPA) and Visakhapatnam (1 MMTPA) will be approximately
Rs1,360 crore at June 2004 prices. Additionally, the cost of filling up the
strategic crude oil storage would be based on the then prevailing international
prices of crude. The construction time is expected to be 48 months from the
date of award of work, he said.
In
order to implement the project, a special purpose vehicle
named Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL)
was incorporated in June 2004 as a wholly owned subsidiary
of IOC with an initial investment of Rs1 crore.
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NASSCOM:
IT sector earns Rs.1,00,000 crore
Chennai: The domestic IT sector crossed revenues of Rs1,00,000 crore
and provided direct employment to about 10 lakh people in fiscal 2004-05,
said Kiran Karnik, President, National Association of Software and Services
Companies (Nasscom).
In
2004-05, software exports were about $17 billion, 35 per cent more than that
the previous year. This was a strong growth in terms of exports, and the IT
industry was the number one exporter for India. IT was also increasingly used
within the country to enhance customer services and competitiveness, Karnik
said.
The
IT and ITES industry in the State of Tamil Nadu would provide direct employment
to about a million people in the next four to five years, state govt. officials
said.
The
State Government has initiated the Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network to establish
a network between the government and the businesses and the government and
the citizen. This will be available on a dedicated network, and the State
Government would soon approach the Centre for funding the project.
The
State is also setting up a single data centre of various
State departments to help people access information from
a single source. The project would be similar to eSeva
in Andhra Pradesh, officials said.
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